Workrooms in which laser processing devices are operated are shielded with respect to their surroundings, for example, for reasons of industrial safety. According to the pertinent safety regulations, harmful laser radiation produced by a laser processing device within a workroom should be contained within the workroom and should not be able to escape from an interior of the workroom into the area surrounding the workroom even under irregular operating states of the laser processing device, and at least for a limited period. Workroom partitions, known as “laser screens”, can be used for this purpose.
A workroom of the generic kind and a workroom partition of the generic kind are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,650,287. In the prior art, a workroom that houses a laser processing tool is enclosed by a radiation-absorbing laser screen. The known laser screen is a composite construction including a metal sheet on the outer side of the screen remote from the laser processing tool and a radiation-absorbing coating that is applied to the inner side of the metal sheet situated towards the laser processing tool. The radiation-absorbing coating is formed by metal oxides, for example, by oxides of aluminum, titanium, zirconium, magnesium, and/or chromium. The ability of these metal oxide coatings to absorb laser radiation is described as excellent in U.S. Pat. No. 4,650,287. The laser screen in U.S. Pat. No. 4,650,287 therefore acts as a radiation trap absorbing the majority of the energy of the laser radiation.